Apparatus for continuously winding up a linear product such as wire

ABSTRACT

A continuous take-up apparatus for wire having upright reel supporting frames rigidly mounted on a base. A sheave is provided above the take-up reels to guide the wire to one of the reels. A plurality of upwardly extending rods are provided and are movable between the reels axially thereof so as to shift the wire beyond one ends of the reels when said one reel has become almost full of the wire. Discs are rotatably mounted adjacent said one ends of the reels. The discs have claws which engage the thus shifted wire and arrest it on the discs whereby the wire is cut between the claws. The cut end of the wire arrested on the disc associated with the other empty reel causes a further continuous length of the wire to be wound up on the empty reel for thereby completing transfer of the wire from the full reel to the empty one.

United States Patent 9 Otani n51 3,693,898 [4s] Sept. 26, 1912 [54]APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUSLY WINDING UP A LINEAR PRODUCT SUCH AS WIRE [72]Inventor: Yashuhiko Otani, Kobe, Japan [73] Assignee: Kobe Steel, Ltd.,Kobe-shi, Japan [22] Filed: March 18, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 20,755

[52] 0.8. CI. ..242/25 A [51] Int. Cl. ..'...B65h 54/02 [58] Field ofSearch.....242/25, 18 A, 18 PW, 18 EW 56 References Cited 7 UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 3,596,844 8/1971 Engmanm. ..242/25 A 3,051,403 8/1962Johnson ..242/25 A FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,380,550 10/1964France ..'..242/25 A 948,298 l/I964 Great Britain 242/25 A PrimaryExaminer-Stanley N. Gilreath Assistant Examiner-Milton S. GersteinAttorney-John J. Byrne [5 7] ABSTRACT A continuous take-up apparatus forwire having upright reel supporting frames rigidly mounted on a base. Asheave is provided above the take-up reels to guide the wire to one ofthe reels. A plurality of upwardly extending rods are provided and aremovable between the reels axially thereof so as to shift the wire beyondone ends of the reels when said one reel has become almost full of thewire. Discs are rotatably mounted adjacent said one ends of the reels.The discs have claws which engage the thus shifted wire and arrest it onthe discs whereby the wire is cutbetween the claws. The cut end of thewire arrested on the disc associated with the other empty reel causes afurther continuous length of the wire to be wound up on the empty reelfor thereby completing transfer of the wire from the full reel to theempty one.

3 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures 1 APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUSIQY WINDING UP ALINEAR PRODUCT SUCH AS WIRE The invention of thepresent applicationrelates generally to an apparatus for continuously winding up a linearproduct such as wire and, particularly, .to an apparatus of this kindand in which, on completion of winding up of the linear product on areel, the product is automatically transferred from the full reel toanother empty one and is continuously wound up thereon.

In the apparatus of this kind, various types of automatic linear producttransferring mechanisms have heretofore been employed. However, they donot provide satisfactory operation. For example, some of theconventional mechanisms have a shortcoming that,

when in use for high speed winding operation, the conventionalmechanisms fail to transfer the linear product from a full reel to anempty one. With the conventional linear product transfer mechanisms,moreover, it is required for the apparatuses for use with. large-sizedtake up reels correspondingly to have large-sized-constructions in theirentirety so as to beadapted for the large reels;

It is an object of the'present invention to provide an improvedapparatus for continuously winding up a linear product which apparatusis free from the problems or drawbacks mentioned in the above.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus ofthe class mentioned in the above and which assures reliable and smoothoperation in transferring the linear product from a full reel to anotherempty one.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatusof the class mentioned in the above and which provides linear producttake-up and transfer operation in stable manner.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide anapparatus of the class mentioned in the above and which is designed tobe adapted for take-up reels of relatively larger size as compared withthe size of the apparatus in its entirety.

A still further object of the presentinvention is to provide anapparatus of the class mentioned in the above and which employssimplified driving mechanisms.

In order to achieve the above objects, there is provided an apparatusfor continuously winding up a linear product which comprises pairs ofupright frame members rigidly mounted on a base, each pair of saidupright frame members being adapted to detachably and rotatably supporta take up reel thereon, motor means for rotating reels on said pairs offrame members in opposite directions, a disc member mounted on each pairof frame members adjacent one end of the real thereon for rotationtherewith, means for guiding said linear product from its deliveryposition to one of the reels on said pairs of frame members, saidguiding means being movable in a horizontal plane above said reels indirections parallel and perpendicular, respectively, to the axes ofrotation of said reels, means on said base between said pairs of framemembers movable in a direction parallel to said axes for shifting a partof the length of said linear product axially of said reels beyond saiddisc members when said one reel has taken up said linearproductsubstantially toits full capacity,

said part of the length of said product extending between said reels,and at least one claw member on the periphery of each of said discmembers, said claw members being adapted to engage the thus shifted partof said linear product and arrest it on said disc members to cause saidlinear product to'be cut between said claw members whereby the cut endof said product arrested on the disc associated with the full reelenables a further continuous length of .said product to be continuouslywound up on the other empty reel.

The above and other objects and features of the present invention willbe apparent from the following description of the invention withreference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a continuous wire take-up apparatusaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

' FIG. 2 is a side view of the apparatusas seen along line Il-II in FIG.1;

- FIGS." 3 to 6 areschematic illustrations of the operalustrates thearrangement of the components of the wire transferring mechanism at afirst stage of the wire transferring operation,

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but schematically illustrates thearrangement of the wire transferring mechanism at a second stage of thewire transferring operation, and

ring mechanism as viewed substantially along line ,VI- VI in FIG. 5.

The present invention will be described hereinunder in detail withreference to an illustrated embodiment of the invention which isdesigned to be operable to wind up a continuous length of wire. It is,however, to be understood that those skilled in the art may easily applythe illustrated embodiment of the invention to taking up of othersimilar linear products.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, there is shown an embodimentof the linear product take-up apparatus, generally designated at 10, ofthe present invention. The apparatus 10 includes a base 11, a pair ofupright walls or frames 12 and 13 projecting upwardly from the oppositeends of the base 11. A pair of bars or shafts 14 and 15 extendhorizontally and are secured at their opposite ends to the frames 12 and13 adjacent I. the upper ends thereof.

Two pairs of upright frames 16 and 16a and I7 and 17a are rigidlymounted at their bottom ends on the base 11 substantially centrallythereof. The frames 16 and 17 carry thereon relatively shorter axles orshafts 18 and 19, respectively, which may be slidably FIG. 6 is aschematic side view of thewire transfer- The pairs of the uprightframesl6 and 16a and 17 and 17a are adapted to support linear producttake-up discs have circular recesses (not shown) facing in-v wardly andsnugly receiving therein flanges on one ends of the reels R1 and R2.Thus, it will be appreciated that reels R1 and R2 will be rotated by thepulleys 21 and 22 which in turn are driven by the conventional motormeans, as mentioned in the above. The discs 23 and 24 have claws 25 and26 provided on the peripheries of the discs, respectively, for thepurpose which will become apparent later.

Blocks 27 and 28, which are generally L-shaped in side view, areslidably mounted on the horizontal shafts 14'and 15, respectively Atransverse shaft 29 extends between the blocks 27'and 28 and are securedat the opposite ends to the blocks. A block or slide 30 having a bracket30a thereon is s lidably mounted on the transverse shaft 29. The slide30 has a sheave 31 rotatably mountedon the bracket30a. The sheave 31 isadapted to guide the linear product or wire to a working reel. The slide30 has an internally threaded through-hole (not shown) through whichextends a second transverseshaft 32 having formed thereon turns of screwthreads which engage the internal screw threads in the slide 30. Theexternally threaded shaft 32 is rotatably received atone end by theblock 27 and rotatably extends at the other end through and beyond theother block 28.

The said other end of the threaded shaft 32 loosely extends through oneend of a link 33. A sprocket 34 is rigidly mounted on the end of the.shaft 32 outwardly of the link 33. The link 33 is hinged at the otherend to a second link 35 by means of a hinge pin 33a on which rotatablymounted are sprockets 36 and 37 which are connected together into aunitary structure. The second link 35 is pivotally mounted at the otherend on a stationary shaft 35a on which rotatably mounted are sprockets38 and 39 connected together into a unitary structure. The sprocket 34is driven through a chain 40 by the sprocket 36 which is connected tothe sprocket 37 which in turn is driven through a chain 41 by thesprocket 38. The latter is connected'to the sprocket 39 which is driveneither by the above-mentioned motor means for the reels or by aseparately provided motor.

Means (not shown) are provided to move the blocks 27 and 28 and thus thesheave 31 from the solid line position (A) in FIG. 2 to a broken lineposition (B) in a direction substantially perpendicular to the axes ofrotation of the reels R1 and R2 substantially in a plane defined bythetwo horizontal shafts 14 and 15. A suitable meansfor shifting the blocksfrom the A to the B position is the sprocket and chain arrangementdisclosed'in my copending application Ser. No. 19,679, filed Mar. 16,1970, entitled An Apparatus For Continuously Winding Up Linear products.The upper end of the link 33 is loosely mounted on the outer end of theexternally threaded shaft 32, as described in the above, so that thelink 33 will follow the movement of the blocks 27 and 28. This movementof the link 33 causesthe .second link 35 to be swung or oscillated aboutthe axle 35a while the drive connection between the shaft 32 and themotor means therefor is maintained by means of the chains and thesprocket wheels. Thus, it will be appreciated that the torque of themotor means is transmitted through the sprocket wheels and chains on thelinks 33 and 35 to the threaded shaft 32 which in turn movesthe slide 30and the sheave 31 in either direction along the shafts 29 and 32 inwhichever position the blocks 27 and 28 'may be with respect to the axisof rotation of the sprocket wheels 38 and 39.

Between two pairs of reel supporting frames 16 and 16a and 17 and 17aare provided three fluid-actuated horizontal cylinders 42, 43 and 44suitably mounted on the base 11, the intermediate cylinder'43 beingarranged to extend in a direction opposite to the others 42 and 44. Thepistons of these cylinders have piston rods 45, 46 and 47, respectively,which have upright rods 48, 49 and 50, respectively. These upright rodsare adapted to be actuated by corresponding cylinders 42, 43 and 44 tomove along respective paths'parallel to the axes of rotation of thereels R1 and R2 for thereby biassing the portion of the running linearproduct or wire extending between the reels for the purpose which willbecome apparent later.

In operation, the reels R1 and R2 are rotated in opposite directions asindicated by arrows in FIG. 2.

A further description will be made in reference to FIGS. 3 to 6 of thedrawings.

The sheave 31 guides the wire from its delivery source to one (R1) ofthe reels while the sheave is movable in either direction parallel tothe axes of rotation of the reels by the externally threaded transverseshaft 32 which is continuously driven through the sprocket wheels 34,36, 37, 38 and 39 and the chains 40 and 41 by the above-stated motorwhich is operatively connected to the sprocket wheel 39. The sheave 31is also movable by any conventional power means (not shown) from theposition (A) to the position (B) in FIG. 6. As described in the above,the drive connection between the externally threaded shaft 32 and thesprocket wheel 39 driven by the not shown motor is formed by the chain40 extending around the sprocket wheels 34 and 36 and by the chain 41extending around the sprocket wheels 37 and 38. The sprocket wheels 36and 37 are mounted on the pin 33a by means of which the two links 33 and35 are hinged together. Thus, it will be appreciated that the threadedshaft 32 is continuously driven by the not shown motor to cause thesheave 31 to be moved or shifted on the shafts and 32 in eitherdirection parallel to the axes of rotation of the reels R1 and R2 inwhichever position the blocks 27 and 28.and thus the shaft 32 may bewith respect to the axis of rotation of the sprocket wheel 39.

FIG. 3 illustrates the reel R1 as having taken up thereon the wirealmost to its full capacity. At this stage of the operation, it isrequired to transfer the wire from the full reel R1 to another emptyreel R2. The latter is thus started its rotation and the peripheralspeed thereof is adjusted so as to be substantially the same as thelinear speed of the wire being taken up on the reel R1. Then, the blocks27 and 28 are slid on the horizontal shafts l4 and 15 so that the sheave31 is moved from the position A to the position B shown in FIGS. 2 and6. At this time, the upright rods 48 and 50 are held in the positionsadjacent the discs 23 and 24 in such a manner that one of the rods 48 ispositioned slightly outwardly rigidly mounted on a base,

of the corresponding disc 23 while the other rod 50 is located slightlyinwardly of the associated disc 24, as will be seen in H6. 3. At thesame time, the wire guiding sheave 31 is kept positioned in a verticalplane adjacent the disc 24, as illustrated in FIG. 3. Then, thefluid-actuated cylinder 43 is actuated to shift the remaining uprightrod 49 axially of the reels beyond the other rods 48 and 50, as seen inFIG. 4. Thus, while the wire is prevented by the rod 50 from beingengaged by the claw 26 on the disc 24, the wire is allowed by theposition of the rod 48 to be shifted by the rod 49 to a position inwhich the wire is engaged by the claw 25 on the disc 23.instantaneously, the rod 50 is actuated to move to a position, shown inFIG. 5, in which the rod 50 allows the wire to be engaged by the claw 26on the disc 24. Thus, the length of the wire is engaged by both of theclaws 25 and 26 and arrested thereby on the discs 23 and 24, as bestseen in FIG. 6, with the result that the wire is out between the claws25 and 26. The cut end of the wire arrested by the claw 26 on the disc24, which is associated with the empty reel R2, enables further lengthof the wire to be wound up on this reel. Thus, the transfer of the wirefrom the full reel (R1) to the empty reel R2 is completed smoothly and,when the reel R2 has become full of the wire, the sheave 31 may be againmoved to the position A in order to further transfer the wire from thereel R2 to a further new empty reel which has been substituted for thereel R1. The operation is further continued in similar manner.

It is particularly to be noted that, with the construction of theapparatus of the present invention, the wire shifting upright rods 48,49 and 50 are utilized in combination to cause the wire to be engaged bythe claws 25 and 26 on the discs 23 and 24. This feature of theinvention assures more reliable and smooth operation in transferring thewire from one reel to another as compared with conventional turret typetake-up machine. in addition, the cut ends of the wire are arrested orheld on the discs 23 and 24 by the claws 25 and 26 thereon so that thecut ends of the wire can be easily dealt with. Furthermore, reels aremounted horizontally at a relatively lower positions and in parallelrelationship to one another on two pairs of reel supporting frames andare rotated in this position. This feature of the invention makes itpossible to assure stable operation of the apparatus, minimize the sizeof the apparatus in its entirety and simplify the driving mechanisms forreels.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for continuously winding up a linear product comprisinga pair of upright frame members a pair of take-up reels detachably androtatably supported in parallel relationship in said frame membersrespectively, motor means for rotating reels on said frame members inopposite directions, a pair of disc members mounted on said framemembers respectively adjacent one end of each of the reels respectivelythereon for rotation therewith, a source means for said linear product,means for guiding said linear product from said source means to one ofthe reels onone of said frame members, said guiding means being movablein a horizontal plane above said reels in directions parallel andperpendicular, respectively, to the axes of rotation of said reels, saidguiding means comprising a pair of block members, a pair of horizontalshaft members extending in parallel relationship to one another in adirection perpendicular to said axes of rotation of reels, said blockmembers slidably mounted on said shaft members respectively, atransverse shaft member rotatably extending through said block members,a sheave member mounted on said transverse shaft member for movementtherealong, means for moving said sheave member along said transverseshaft member including screw threads formed externally on saidtransverse shaft member, a slide member mounted on said transverse shaftmember by means of an internally threaded opening therein through whichsaid shaft member extends, said sheave being journalled for freerotation on said slide member, a second motor means, and drive meansoperatively connecting said second motor means with said transverseshaft member for rotating said shaft member, said drive means includinga first and second link member, a pin member, said first and second linkmembers loosely hinged together at their ends by said pin member, saidfirst link member being pivotally mounted at the other end on saidtransverse shaft member, a second pin member, said second link memberbeing loosely pivoted at the other end to said second pin member, afirst sprocket wheel rigidly mounted on said transverse shaft member, asecond sprocket wheel rotatably mounted on said first pin member, afirst chain member drivingly interconnecting said first and secondsprocket wheels, a third sprocket wheel mounted on said first pin memberand connected to said second sprocket wheel for rotation therewith,fourth and fifth sprocket wheels connected together and rotatablymounted on said second pin member, a second chain member drivinglyinterconnecting said third and fourth sprocket wheels, said fifthsprocket wheel being operatively connected to the output shaft of saidsecond motor means, means for moving said block members along saidhorizontal shaft members, means on said base between said frame membersmovable in a direction parallel to said axes of said reels for shiftingsaid linear product axially of said reels beyond said disc members whena predetermined length of said linear product has been taken up by saidone reel, and at least one claw member on the periphery of each of saiddisc members, said claw member being adapted to engage the thus shiftedpart of said linear product and arrest it on said disc member.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said shifting meanscomprises a plurality of power actuated reciprocating assemblies mountedon said base between said power actuated reciprocating assembliesmounted on said base between said reel supporting frame members andextending in parallel relationship with said axes of rotation of reels,and upright rods connected to the piston rods of said assemblies,respectively, at least one of said upright rods serving to shift thelinear product being wound up on a reel axially beyond said disc membersand at least one of the remaining upright rods serving first to preventsaid product from being engaged by said claw member and then to allowsaid product to be engaged by said claw member whereby said product isarrested on said disc members and immediately cut between said clawmember by the continuous rotation of said reels.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein said power actuatedreciprocating assembliesare fluid actuated piston and cylinderassemblies. i =l

1. An apparatus for continuously winding up a linear product comprisinga pair of upright frame members rigidly mounted on a base, a pair oftake-up reels detachably and rotatably supported in parallelrelationship in said frame members respectively, motor means forrotating reels on said frame members in opposite directions, a pair ofdisc members mounted on said frame members respectively adjacent one endof each of the reels respectively thereon for rotation therewith, asource means for said linear product, means for guiding said linearproduct from said source means to one of the reels on one of said framemembers, said guiding means being movable in a horizontal plane abovesaid reels in directions parallel and perpendicular, respectively, tothe axes of rotation of said reels, said guiding means comprising a pairof block members, a pair of horizontal shaft members extending inparallel relationship to one another in a direction perpendicular tosaid axes of rotation of reels, said block members slidably mounted onsaid shaft members respectively, a transverse shaft member rotatablyextending through said block members, a sheave member mounted on saidtransverse shaft member for movement therealong, means for moving saidsheave member along said transverse shaft member including screw threadsformed externally on said transverse shaft member, a slide membermounted on said transverse shaft member by means of an internallythreaded opening therein through which said shaft member extends, saidsheave being journalled for free rotation on said slide member, a secondmotor means, and drive means operatively connecting said second motormeans with said transverse shaft member for rotating said shaft member,said drive means including a first and second link member, a pin member,said first and second link members loosely hinged together at their endsby said pin member, said first link member being pivotally mounted atthe other end on said transverse shaft member, a second pin member, saidsecond link member being loosely pivoted at the other end to said secondpin member, a first sprocket wheel rigidly mounted on said transverseshaft member, a second sprocket wheel rotatably mounted on said firstpin member, a first chain member drivingly interconnecting said firstand second sprocket wheels, a third sprocket wheel mounted on said firstpin member and connected to said second sprocket wheel for rotationtherewith, fourth and fifth sprocket wheels connected together androtatably mounted on said second pin member, a second chain memberdRivingly interconnecting said third and fourth sprocket wheels, saidfifth sprocket wheel being operatively connected to the output shaft ofsaid second motor means, means for moving said block members along saidhorizontal shaft members, means on said base between said frame membersmovable in a direction parallel to said axes of said reels for shiftingsaid linear product axially of said reels beyond said disc members whena predetermined length of said linear product has been taken up by saidone reel, and at least one claw member on the periphery of each of saiddisc members, said claw member being adapted to engage the thus shiftedpart of said linear product and arrest it on said disc member.
 2. Anapparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said shifting means comprises aplurality of power actuated reciprocating assemblies mounted on saidbase between said power actuated reciprocating assemblies mounted onsaid base between said reel supporting frame members and extending inparallel relationship with said axes of rotation of reels, and uprightrods connected to the piston rods of said assemblies, respectively, atleast one of said upright rods serving to shift the linear product beingwound up on a reel axially beyond said disc members and at least one ofthe remaining upright rods serving first to prevent said product frombeing engaged by said claw member and then to allow said product to beengaged by said claw member whereby said product is arrested on saiddisc members and immediately cut between said claw member by thecontinuous rotation of said reels.
 3. An apparatus as defined in claim 2wherein said power actuated reciprocating assemblies are fluid actuatedpiston and cylinder assemblies.